Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks

you have retainers and servants? These are no conditions for one of Alyssa’s birth.”
    “Have you thought that perhaps I’m hiding here?” Yoren asked. “I can survive on my own. Only one hunter has spotted my fire, and I paid him well enough to leave us alone.”
    “Then he will only be the richer when he sells your secret for twice the amount,” Eliora replied. “Don’t be a fool. You must move elsewhere.”
    Again Alyssa expected an angry reaction, and again she was surprised by how docilely her lover reacted.
    “If you think it wise,” he said. His arms wrapped tighter around her, and sighing contentedly, she let him tuck her head underneath his chin. Her breath blew across his neck.
    “It may not be too late,” Nava suggested. “If we kill Lord Gemcroft before he can appoint a new successor, by law Alyssa inherits his wealth and business transactions.”
    “No,” Alyssa said as she pulled away from Yoren’s arms. “I don’t want him killed. Whatever he’s done to me doesn’t deserve that. I worry for my family, my father included. These thief guilds will destroy everything my family has worked for. I can’t allow that. That’s why I must take over.”
    “She is the last,” Eliora said. “Maynard might not remove her from his will, for if he does, the Gemcroft line dies with the stroke of his pen.”
    “Stop it,” Alyssa said. “All of you. I will not let you kill him. He will not banish me, not forever. I know my father. Given time, he will accept me back.”
    “Time you may not have,” Eliora said darkly.
    “Ladies, I believe my lovely needs a rest,” Yoren said. “If you might give us some privacy? Perhaps tomorrow morning we’ll have a reasonable plan prepared. For now, I think we’re all a bit upset over how things fell apart.”
    The faceless women slipped through the trees, with only Eliora glancing back. She said nothing, though Alyssa felt her eyes peering at her through the thin white cloth.
    “I’m sorry,” Alyssa said, shifting closer to the fire. She wasn’t sure what for, but guilt weighed heavily on her shoulders. Whether by her own actions or not, she felt she had failed so many people. Yoren put his hand on her shoulder, and she was thankful for his kindness.
    “Everyone makes mistakes,” Yoren said. He paced behind her, and the silence she hoped he’d end stretched out longer and longer.
    “I couldn’t bear to see him dead,” she said. Yoren’s pacing made her nervous. What was troubling him so badly?
    “Sometimes good men must die to further the cause of something greater,” Yoren said.
    “Yes, but I—”
    Yoren grabbed her arms, yanking her to her feet and spinning her about. When she looked into his eyes, she saw that same fire that had always aroused her lust and called her to his bed. This time anger was mixed with the lust, along with a dash of contempt. She felt she looked into the eyes of a stranger.
    “Listen to me,” Yoren said. He was trying to remain calm, and succeeding only barely. “We have gambled everything on your ascension. Do you understand that? You are an outcast and a bloody fool if you think your father hasn’t already written you out of his will. You are dead to him. He might as well be dead to you.”
    He paused as if waiting for her to answer. She nodded her head, unsure of what to believe. Would Maynard cast her out so? Would he believe she’d been behind the attack by the faceless? Yoren loomed over her, and for the first time she felt vulnerable in his presence.
    “We have done everything to put you into power,” the man continued. “And will
continue
to do everything. Do not let your emotions get in the way of this, Alyssa. Everything is before us; all we need is to shed a little more blood. One day, our children will inherit the Gemcroft fortune, and our grandchildren will dance in the mines your father chokes with axes and slaves.”
    They are liars, girl
, echoed her father’s voice in her ear.
Liars and thieves and conniving men…
    “The Gemcroft name is doomed,” Yoren said. “You knew that when we came here. Your father is weak. A strong leader must arise.” He brushed her hair. “A leader like me.”
    And that was it, then. Alyssa looked upon the man not as her lover, not as a dashing man with a hint of danger in his smile. She saw the poised viper, saw in his smile a crawling beast that would take all her power and leave her shriveled and dead. They would not be equals, not once the wedding